Not for the first time, it's up to sprinting superman Usain Bolt to save the world of track and field.
Having recovered from a leg injury in the nick of time, the Jamaican returns to the scene of his first Olympic triumphs carrying the hopes of a sport desperate to rise above the stench of performance-enhancing drugs.
If the formbook goes to plan at the world championships in Beijing, he will square off against controversial American Justin Gatlin in Sunday night's 100m final.
Gatlin tops the 2015 world rankings and is unbeaten in 27 races this year, but more significantly has served two doping bans.
Several other potential 100m medallists - including American Tyson Gay and Jamaican Asafa Powell - have also sat out time for doping infringements.
But it is the showdown between the charismatic Bolt and the taciturn Gatlin which will overshadow everything else.
Incoming IAAF president Sebastian Coe knows precisely what is at stake.
"The sport, for all sorts of reasons, needs Usain to come through in Beijing," he said back in July.
Earlier this week, Coe noted that while Gatlin had served his punishment and was again eligible to compete "I'm hardly going to sit here - given everything I've said - and say that I'm anything other than queasy at the thought of athletes that have served bans for serious infringements going on to win championship titles".
As recently as last month, there were grave doubts that Bolt - the Olympic 100m and 200m and 4x100m gold medallist in 2008 and 2012 and eight-time world champ world champion - would even make it to the start-line in Beijing.
But two efforts of 9.87 seconds in London last month - which moved Bolt to sixth spot on the 2015 world rankings - sealed the deal.
Conventional wisdom says that if the Jamaican had any misgivings over his ability to beat Gatlin this year, he would hold back until next year's Rio Olympics.
"Initially I'm running for myself, that's what I do," Bolt said on arrival in Beijing, the city where he first shot to global fame back in 2008 when he won triple Olympic sprint gold at the Bird's Nest stadium, all in record times.
"People say I need to win for the sport, but there are a lot of other athletes who are running clean.
"It's not only on me because I can't do it myself.
"I think it's the responsibility of all the athletes to take it upon themselves to help save the sport and show the sport can go far, without drugs cheats or athletes who've taken drugs."
Gatlin, 33, refuses to label himself a drug cheat, claiming his first positive test was for a stimulant he had used for years and the second one for testosterone was due to a cream applied by a masseur.
The second positive would normally have meant a lifetime ban but was cut to eight years, and then halved again to four after he agreed to assist anti-doping officials.
"Just remember I am more than four years. I am more than two bans," Gatlin told Reuters.
"I have done a lot before, and I have done a lot after that."
The opening round of the men's 100m is on Saturday, with the semis and final on Sunday.
British distance running sensation Mo Farah - who shared the spotlight with Bolt at the London Olympics as he claimed a rare 5000m-10,000m double - will be in action on Saturday night in the 10,000m.
Farah has also been in the spotlight this year as his American coach Alberto Salazar has been accused of flouting anti-doping rules.
Salazar has denied any wrongdoing and Farah has pledged to stick by him unless the allegations were proven.
The August 22-30 world titles begin at 0935 (AEST) on Saturday with the men's marathon.
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